1989 Plymouth State Athletic Hall of Fame

STEVE CLARK ('84): A native of Great
Britain, Steve Clark came to the United States in 1980 to further
his education. An outstanding soccer player, he had opportunities
to play the game at several different American colleges. After
meeting the Plymouth State College head coach Gerd Lutter during
the summer of 1980, Clark decided that PSC was where he wanted to
be.

Clark’s career scoring total of 96 goals is more
than twice the number of PSC’s second leading career scorer.
The 28 goals he scored during the 1982 season is a record that will
probably never be surpassed.

The four years that Clark played for Plymouth saw the soccer
Panthers hold and incredible record of 60-13-5. Three years saw PSC
earn NCAA national tournament invitations, while the fourth saw PSC
win an ECAC championship.

As a senior, Clark led PSC to a 17-2-3 record, as the Panthers
reached the NCAA Division III National Semi-Finals. Clark finished
a close second to Duke University’s Tony Jeffries in the
balloting for the 1983 Hermann Award.

Steve Clark is the first PSC student-athlete to be honored with
selection to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

JAMES J. HOGAN (1919-1986): Jim Hogan
began teaching at Plymouth Teachers College in 1953, when he, his
wife, and three children moved to Plymouth from Connecticut.

Hogan’s teaching career would extend into the
1980’s. As a teacher and a coach, he would touch the lives of
hundreds of college students. As a husband and father, he would
help raise nine children, three of whom would later either play for
or coach at Plymouth State College.

Hogan served the college from 1955-57 as head men’s tennis
coach. He also assisted with several other teams, and took an
active interest in every team that represented Plymouth. When
football boosters were trying to establish a gridiron program as
PSC in 1969, Hogan became an important and ardent supporter.

The 1973-74 PSC men’s basketball team was a particular
source of pride for Dr. Hogan, as it was captained by his son, Jim
Jr. The senior Hogan was in the stands that special evening in
February, 1975, to watch his son help PSC to a memorable 105-102
win at St. Anslem College, Plymouth’s first win ever over St.
A’s after 37 straight losses.

In 1985 Hogan finished his book “Plymouth- Where My
Viewpoints Crossed,” which devoted a long chapter to the
development of intercollegiate athletics at PSC. Hogan would go on
to revel in the national attention that the football team would
receive that autumn, watch home games from his car in a special
parking place near the north end zone.

The 1985-86 PSC sports seasons would be the last ones that Hogan
would witness as an active spectator. He passed away during the
summer of 1986. Before his death, Hogan would often reflect on
how the college had grown since he first arrived in Plymouth in
1953. He understood the value of athletics to both the individual
and to the institution, and was proud of the role he had played in
supporting a wide variety of sports programs.

While Hogan will be long-remembered as a teacher, coach,
booster, and fan, his most lasting contributions were made as a
husband and father. His proudest Legacy will remain his wonderful
family- wife Nancy and children Nancy, Joan, Barbara, James Jr.,
Linda, Paul, Michael, Bill, Peg and Mary.

DAVE LONG ('77): In the autumn of
1972 a freshman from East Northport, NY names Dave Long tried out
for the Plymouth State College men’s basketball team but
didn’t make it.

As a sophomore in 1973, Long decided to try out again, making
the squad this time. By the end of the 1973-74 season, he was one
of the team’s top substitutes.

Long made the team every year after and started almost every
game during the following three year span, which proved to be one
of the most successful basketball eras in the history of PSC. Twice
Plymouth would earn a spot in the finals of the old New England
State College basketball playoffs. One season saw the Panthers
average almost 100 points per game, second highest in the nation.
The 1975 Plymouth State basketball team would defeat St. Anslem
College for the first time ever after 37 straight losses.

Long tallied a total of 1,403 career points to represent the
highest total ever compiled by a Plymouth State College basketball
player. After Graduating in 1977, Long returned to the Home of the
Panthers as an assistant coach. When PSC head coach Jack Rhodes
left to take a position in Connecticut nine games into the 1977-78
season., Long became acting head coach, and responded to the
challenge by helping PSC to remain competitive despite the
subsequent uncertainty concerning the future of PSC’s
men’s basketball program.

Long served as an assistant coach from 1981-85 at New Hampshire
College, where he helped Tom Sullivan build a Division II
powerhouse.

LYNN MILER ('74): Without question, Lynn
miller was one of the finest all-around student-athletes ever to
wear the green and white of Plymouth State College.

In an era when women’s athletics were making great strides
toward achieving equity with men’s programs, Lynn
Miller’s exploits on four different teams during the early
1970s served notice that women’s athletics involved student
athletes who not only took their sports seriously, but who were
also quite skillful, athletic, and technically proficient.

Miller played field hockey, basketball, and lacrosse as an
undergraduate at PSC excelling in each of these team sports but it
was on the tennis courts where Miller really left her mark.

The top singles player on several fine PSC teams, Miller was
also an outstanding doubles player. In 1972, she teamed up with Lil
Peltz to win the New England doubles title at Yale University.
Miller and Peltz would defeat a duo from the University of
Bridgeport in the finals of this prestigious tournament, which was
sponsored by the US Lawn Tennis Association.

Having reached the heights in women’s tennis, Miller took
on a new challenge in 1973- playing on the men’s tennis team.
Her singles record was among the best on the squad, and she teamed
up with Steve Gallagher to provide a formidable doubles
combination. In a sense, Miller became PSC’s first and only
“5-sport” student athlete.

THE DARLING SISTERS - EVA (‘23), ELSIE
(‘25), AGNES (‘27), CHRISTINA
(‘29): Eva, Elsie, Agnes, and Christina
Darling were four sisters among the 12 children of the Darling
family which moved to Woodsville, N.H., just after the First World
War. The siblings were active youngsters and were very
sports-minded, despite living on a farm and not having access to
coaching and equipment.

What later became known as Plymouth State College was a two-year
institution known as Plymouth Normal School when Eva Darling
enrolled there in 1921. Eva took advantage of the limited athletic
opportunities available for women, which included basketball. She
excelled at the game and paved the way for the later arrivals of
Elsie, Agnes, and Christina.

When Agnes began her career at PNS, the team had begun to excel
and recorded a 9-0 record during the 1925-26 season. Agnes
captained the team in 1927 and went 5-1 and the 1928-29 team,
captained by Christina, was also undefeated.

All four of the Darlings were basketball captains for Plymouth
before their respective graduations in 1923, 25, 27, and 29. The
darlings also remained active in athletics even after leaving
Plymouth, as evidence by Agnes’ exploits on the Haverhill
(Mass.) YWCA team. Agnes lead her small-town YWCA squad to many
surprising playoff victories in a major Boston tournament. Her
Haverhill team was given a chance to play the University of New
Hampshire Wildcat women’s team, and Agnes led the locals to a
stunning 33-30 triumph over UNH. Plymouth State is honored to be
able to recognize all the Darling sisters by inducting them into
its Athletic Hall of Fame.